The brief for the competition was for entrants to create an eight-page fashion or beauty feature that answers to the description: Sexy, Stylish and Spirited, with minimum retouching on their work.   From a pool of 75 entires, 10 finalists were selected to showcase their interpretation of the theme.

The 10 finalists were:
[Cape Town] Pieter Hugo, Gerhard Muller ; Jean-Pierre Fourie, Freddie Child-Villiers and Alix-Rose Cowie.
[Johannesburg]  Melissa Huneberg,; George Rabe, Thato Montsitsi.
[Port Elizabeth] Natalie Field,  Gerhardt Coetzee

See their submissions here

The judging panel for the final event will consist of; Armine Kalogeropoulos Business Leader –Digital Imaging, Samsung SA, Chris Viljoen ELLE fashion director; Anna Lineveldt ELLE creative director and Award-winning fashion photographer Gerda Genis.

And the winner is…..Freddie Child-Villiers!!!!!!

Freddie walks away with the Samsung NX10 Hybrid Camera, a Samsung R730 Notebook, and a Samsung XL2370 monitor. He will also receive on-the-job training with ELLE Magazine, where he’ll will assist ELLE photographers on all editorial shoots scheduled for a three-month period. The winner will also get to do an editorial shoot to be published in ELLE Magazine in one of the 2011 issues of ELLE.

Thanks to Elle for the opportunity to attend such a great event and the opportunity to meet and chat with such talented photographers!

Jackie Burger (ELLE Editor)

Linda Choo (Samsung)

Alix-Rose Cowie

Freddie Child-Villiers

Gerhard Muller

Gerhardt Coetzee

Jean-Pierre Fourie

Melissa Huneberg

Natalie Field

Thato Montsitsi

George Rabe

Gerda Genis sharing her thoughts and encouragement

Photographer Marguerite Oelofse (left)

I’m so proud of them!  They had a great write up and has been one of my favorite weddings to date!  Well done, guys!

Wedding Collection Magazine

To show our support for the cause we’ll donate 100% of the proceeds from family portraits sessions and 10% of the proceeds from weddings booked between 15-23 January 2010, to the Red Cross for the people of Haiti.

I (and the majority of the photographers in the industry) am very passionate about what we do!  It angers me when bad people take advantage of good people!  It saddens me that awesome couples have had their special day marred by a rotten apple (with worms)…a day that can never be re-lived!

Some tips that can save you heart-ache, nightmares & money:
1. If you are uncertain, arrange to split the payment amount: 50% before & 50% after.
2. Request that you’d like to see the album/gallery of complete weddings (i.e not just a few bridal pictures).
3. Take up the offer for an Engagement Session.  You’ll get to see how the photographer works and the true quality of their work before committing.
4. Go through the contract with the photographer.
5. Get referrals (i.e names from passed clients and other wedding photographers).

Your wedding is an important event in your life…please be weary of unprofessional vendors.

Literally minutes after the insert was broadcast, our site receive numerous hits for “Trash The Dress”.  I’m even more thrilled that we’ve booked a number of Trash The Dress sessions for the following months.

This kind of reaction is very encouraging, and it shows that South Africans are breaking out of the “boring” mold and catching up with the rest of the World.

Be sure to see our Trash The Dress session from last year (click here).

If you missed the story or want a second look, check it out here:

Join our group and keep up to date with our latest news, promotions and events.

I just want to give a shoutout and thank you to the folks at Creative Camera Club for inviting me to be a judge at last nights meeting.  It was an awesome experience and very encouraging to see such a well supported club.

If you’re interested in joining a photography club and live in the Southern suburbs of Cape Town, pay Create Camera Club a visit.

- Santam Chairman’s Dinner
- Argon Year End Function
- Amway Year End Function
- The Oberholzer family session
- Samantha & Liam’s Wellington Wedding
- Ashley & Elvira’s Franschhoek Wedding

Check back in over the next couple of days